Goodspeed biographies filename M.txt contributed by Mary Collins USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *************************************************************************** DR. JAMES C. McCOWN, farmer of Beaver Dam Township, was born in Woodford County, Ky., in 1827, his parents being John and Eliza J. (Easton) McCown, natives of Musser and Woodford Counties, Ky., respectively. They were married in 1825, and the father died about four years later. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and a farmer by occupation. The mother was married the second time and lived some years in Missouri, but died in her native county in 1863. The Doctor was the only child born to his parents. He secured a good education at Central College, Danville, Ky., and in 1843 he began the study of medicine and practiced some until 1850, when he graduated at the Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky. He practiced without interruption for ten years, when failing health caused him to abandon the same, and in 1864 he removed to Ralls County, Mo., and then to Monroe, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1878, when he removed to Butler County, on Cane Creek, six miles west of Popular Bluff. There he has since remained on a good farm of 343 acres. He was married in 1854 to Mary, daughter of John and Susan Jutty, of Clark County, Ky. Three children were born to this union: Thomas, James and Georgia. Dr. McCown is an earnest worker for the cause of education, and is a Democrat in his political views, his first presidential vote, being for Lewis Cass, in 1848. He is an active worker for the Democratic party and is also foremost in all enterprises that tend toward developing the resources of the country and toward the advancement of the general public. He is a good farmer and makes a specialty of improving the grade of his stock. He is a member of the Baptist Church. JOHN MANGOLD, manufacturer and dealer in all kinds of oak staves and headings, was born in Dearborn County, Ind., in 1857, and is the son of Joseph and Christina (Hoff) Mangold, natives of Alsace, France, who, when children, came with their parents to the United States, and lived some time at Pittsburgh, Penn., where they were principally reared. They afterward went west to Dearborn County, Ind., where they were probably married, and where Mr. Mangold died about 1883. The mother is still living there. Mr. Mangold was a farmer and also followed the shoemaker’s trade. They reared nine children, seven of whom are now living. John Mangold was the youngest child born to this union. He was educated in the schools of Dearborn County, Ind., and at the age of nineteen began for himself. He went to Butler County, and was in the saloon business at Harviell about five years. He then kept a supply store for four years and was in the meantime engaged in the stave business with eight or ten men, shipping to St. Louis and various other points. This business he has since continued and now employs from seventy-five to eighty men. He has a prosperous business which is rapidly increasing. His shipment in 1887 was nearly $50,000, finding a ready sale in all States, but principally in California. His staves and headings are principally for large casks. This is the only enterprise of the kind in Butler County. He has about 1,500 acres of choice timber land and is one of the most prominent business men of Butler County, all this property being the result of his own efforts. He was married in May, 1880, to Miss Sophia, daughter of John and A.M. Hampel. She was born in Jefferson County, Mo., and to their marriage were born three children. Mr. Mangold is a Democrat, politically, and his first presidential vote was for Gen. Hancock in 1880. He owns the most of Harviell, and considerable real estate in Poplar Bluff. It might properly be mentioned in this connection that Harviell is seven miles south of Poplar Bluff on the main line of the Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad. It has a Western Union Telegraph office, and express office and postoffice, and three general stores, one drug store, one blacksmith shop, three saw mills and lumber yards, one stave yard. It has 300 inhabitants. Mr. Mangold is a member of the Catholic Church and is a prominent citizen. Page 1082. HENRY H. MILES, sheriff of Butler County and the son of William and Rebecca (Gaskin) Miles, was born in Spartenburg, S.C., April 10, 1841. The parents were reared and married in South Carolina, and here the father spent the greater part of his life engaged in farming. Having lived in his native State until 1872, he and wife moved to Mississippi, where he died in 1877 at the age of eighty-four. He was a member of the Baptist Church, as is also his wife, who is still living and is eighty years of age. The father had, by a previous marriage, five children, and by his last marriage also became the father of five children. He was Democratic in his political views, and was a major in the War of 1812. Henry H., who was one of the children born to the second marriage, grew to manhood on the farm and received his education in the old Field School. At the age of twenty he went to Mississippi and was overseer on a plantation until the breaking out of the War, when he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, under Capt. T.H. Shackleford’s company, and served until the close of the war. He was promoted to the rank of captain of his company and was in the battle of Fort Pillow, Island No. 10, where he was taken prisoner and held at Camp Douglas and at Camp Randall. Being exchanged, he re-entered the service and was in the battles of Champion’s Hill, Vicksburg, Jackson and in the Georgia campaign. He had two brothers killed in the army but he was never touched. He returned to his home in South Carolina, and while there, in 1867, married Miss Laura Hollis, a native of Union County, S.C., born in September, 1841. To this marriage were born four children, three now living, two sons and one daughter. Having returned to Mississippi Mr. Miles farmed until 1878, when he came to Butler County and here followed the same occupation for three years. He then moved to Poplar Bluff, opened a livery stable, and after running that a time, was chosen street commissioner and then marshal of the city. In 1886 he was chosen sheriff and is now one of the aldermen of Poplar Bluff. In his political views he has affiliated with the Democratic party all his life and is a K.P. and a K. of H. Pages 1082-1083. LEONARD O. MILLS, a farmer of Epps Township, who was born in Jefferson County, Tenn., in 1835, is the third of eight children born to Jaresiah and Elizabeth (Hutcheson) Mills, natives of East Tennessee, where they lived until 1852, when they moved to Butler County, and settled four miles northwest of Poplar Bluff. About 1856 they moved to Cane Creek, where the mother died in 1862 and the father in 1864. The father was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. The mother’s people were natives of Virginia. Thomas Mills, grandfather of Leonard O., was born in England, came to America at the age of twenty-one and settled in Tennessee. Leonard O. Mills received but a limited common school education and came with his parents to Butler County. In 1862 he joined Company C, of Col. B. Jeffers’ regiment under Gen. John L. Marmaduke, and operated in Arkansas and Louisiana. He was captured at Cape Girardeau in May, 1864, and imprisoned in St. Louis for about one month, when he was taken to Virginia and exchanged in Demopolis, Ala., in June. He soon after rejoined his command in Stoddard County, Mo., and remained in service until the close of the war. He then spent a year in Arkansas, but returned to Butler County, where he has since resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits, principally. He was married in 1880 to Mrs. Susanna J. Spurlock, widow of N.B. Spurlock and daughter of Thomas and Anna Mills, natives of Tennessee, where Mrs. Mills was born. To this union were born two children, Jesse E. and William Thomas. Mr. Mills, since his marriage, has lived on the old farm, which consists of 188 acres of good land, all the result of his own labor and good management. Mr. Mills is an earnest worker for the cause of education and general upbuilding of the community. Politically a Democrat, his first vote was cast for James Buchanan in 1856. He is a member of the Farmers’ Alliance and of the Missionary Baptist Church. Soon after the war Mr. Mills was registering officer and for many years road overseer. He had the misfortune to lose his wife in 1886. Page 1083. LEMUEL MILLS, a popular grocer of Poplar Bluff, was born March 28, 1839. the lives of his parents, Thomas and Anna (Carmichael) Mills, ran along evenly, the former from 1816 to 1875, and the mother’s from 1815 to 1877, and both were natives of Jefferson County, Tenn., where Lemuel was born also. Both were members of the Baptist Church. They came to Butler County in 1853, and here they spent the rest of their lives engaged in agriculture. The father was one of the Georgia volunteers to assist in removing the Indians from that State. In politics he was a Democrat. The subject of this sketch was the eldest of eight children, and had few school advantages. He joined the Missouri State Guards in 1861, and after serving his time there enlisted in Company C, of Col. Jeffers’ regiment, Confederate soldiers, where he served until the close of the conflict. After some three years spent on a farm in Louisiana he returned to Butler County, and, notwithstanding his early educational deficiencies, he made up for it in personal application, and was enabled to become a teacher. He alternated farming and teaching for a long time. In 1874 he began public life as clerk of the county court, and served four years. He is now the treasurer of Poplar Bluff. In 1883 he turned his attention to mercantile life, first in conducting a harness store, and about a year later as partner with M. Ferguson in the grocery business. The stock and building were destroyed by fire in 1885, and with a capital of $166 Mr. Mills began again, and now has a good stock and increasing trade. In politics he is a Democrat. In 1877 Miss Hester O., a daughter of John Eudaley, an old settler of Butler County, became his wife, and the union has been blessed by five children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Mills is a Methodist. Pages 1083-1084. THOMAS H. MOORE. Among the earliest pioneers of Washington County, Mo., were James and Amanda (Williams) Moore. The former was born in North Carolina in 1801, and the latter was a native of Virginia, born in 1806. They reared a family of ten children on the old homestead, and lived to a good old age, passing away in 1885 and 1887 respectively. Both were esteemed members of the Presbyterian Church. The father’s political opinions changed with the war from Democratic to Republican. His youngest son, Thomas H., was born at Caledonia, Washington County, September 1, 1846, and grew up with the usual rural advantages of a pioneer community, and devoted himself to farming until his twenty-sixth year. He then, in 1872, came to Poplar Bluff, and engaged with W.F. Neal as clerk for $20 a month and board. A season of illness led him to Ironton, where, after four years’ clerkship, he returned to Mr. Neal’s employ, and, except an interval at Louisville, Ky., in a wholesale house, he remained with this gentleman for ten years, four of which he was partner in the receipt of profits. His ability and financial success have been such that in 1887 he withdrew and formed the present firm, T. H. Moore & Co., one of the most enterprising firms in the place. In 1880 Mr. Moore married Jennie Harvey, a native of New York, but at an early age was brought to Iron County, Mo. Of their four children three are now living. Mr. Moore is a strong Democrat, and is now mayor of Poplar Bluff. He is a Mason and a member of the K. of H. Page 1084. JOSEPH W. MORRIS was born in Anderson District, S.C., in 1832, and is the son of John and Rachel (Hopkins) Morris, natives of South Carolina, where they resided until 1846, when they removed to Cherokee County, Ga., and there the mother died in 1876, at the age or sixty-six. The father died in 1887, nearly eighty-eight years of age. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Samuel Morris, grandfather of Joseph W., was born in Abbeyville District, S.C., and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The subject of this sketch was the sixth of fourteen children, ten of whom are living, born to his parents. He never attended school but about three months, and that was after attaining his majority. He went to Georgia with his parents, and in 1854 married Miss Margaret E., daughter of John N. and Rebecca Swords. She was born in South Carolina, and by her marriage became the mother of four children, one now living, John Howard. Mr. Morris served four years in Company F, Third Georgia Cavalry, and operated mostly in East Tennessee, the last two years as lieutenant. In 1867 he removed to Butler County, and settled on Wolf Creek, six miles west of Poplar Bluff, where he has 300 acres. Although starting with nothing, he is now one of the leading farmers of that county. Formerly a Whig, his first presidential vote was for Gen. Taylor in 1848. He now affiliates with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Page 1084.